I have actually passed up some nice guitars due to them being altered and having a lacquered "Gibson" decal on the headstock. I want it to be original and I love having it say Burny, Greco, Tokai, Fresher, etc on the headstock's! It introduces people to alternatives that are equally as good if not better than the guitars they are copying. So many people at my work now are interested and are finally starting to see the light. Thank you Japan!

Some players, like myself, who are born under that bad lefty star can't even get the guitar they have their heart set on. Gibson builds RI of loads of historic guitars, then plain refuses to do a lefty or two. My local luthier/guitardealer advised against buying a lefty Gibson other than a historic original (am I going to fork out $26K? are you mental?), reason being all the botch jobs he'd encountered. For years I have searched for an LP Jr and finally found it in a Tokai._________________va' sa' du? va' hete' du?
my guitars at LGTf; http://www.leftyguitartrader.com/forum/album.php?albumid=13

Some players, like myself, who are born under that bad lefty star can't even get the guitar they have their heart set on. Gibson builds RI of loads of historic guitars, then plain refuses to do a lefty or two. My local luthier/guitardealer advised against buying a lefty Gibson other than a historic original (am I going to fork out $26K? are you mental?), reason being all the botch jobs he'd encountered. For years I have searched for an LP Jr and finally found it in a Tokai.

I think I will be one of only a few here to be able to read your message Diamond, please refrase in english so the international crowd can join.

To answer your point; I thought Gibson stopped building lefties all together?
going back On Topic;
I realise Tokai doesn't build all it's models in lefthand orientation either, however they do not straightout refuse to build you a lefty piece. And they do offer model throughout (almost) each price/quality level._________________va' sa' du? va' hete' du?
my guitars at LGTf; http://www.leftyguitartrader.com/forum/album.php?albumid=13

I think that the way this thread is shaping up is that quite a few of us have actually owned Gibsons in the past so we have had the opportunity for comparison.

not me. I'm thankful i found out about tokai and the other japanese brands before i ended up forking out for a gibbo or fender.

Well I've owned a 1978 Standard in Tobacco Burst that had an extremely rough existence before I got it... it was achingly heavy..original uncovered Burstbuckers...played ok...sounded ok...but never felt a part of me.
I've also owned a very rare late sixties prototype model SG...it had no serial but DID have the dated swingtags in the case.
It was a dark walnut with a Bigsby,black mini humbuckers and dot inlays...and aside from the fact that it was a rare Gibson...it played like ^&*(....would NOT stay in tune and the feedback was uncontrollable.
So of the Gibsons that I have owned...NOTHING comes close to the quality or playability of my Tokai.

There's only one reason - quality of Tokai guitars is simply superior to those of large American brands.

Let me tell you a story:
A couple of years ago I went into the local music store to buy a nice strat. I had just received some bonus to my account, so I had ability and will to pay what's needed for a good one. The store is actually the local importer of Fender guitars, so they had a whole punch of F-strats - I tried pretty much all the Fenders from MIM to Signature series EJ strat (i.e. price range of 500-2200euros), but ended up walking out of the store with a used 2005 Tokai AST-50. It was barely used at all, so if someone had said that it's brand new I'd have believed it. The quality and finishing were absolutely great and, not to forget, the acoustic qualities and resonance (which is naturally the basis for a great electric sound, as well) were far better than those of Fenders.

This year more or less the same happened w/ a Les Paul...so, after that I came up with my motto (see my signature below).

So, who cares about the text in the headstock - or even the shape of the headstock - if you're getting what you're wanting. Plus you're getting it w/ lower price..._________________Not buying American guitars, there are Japanese available out there...

Well I've owned a 1978 Standard in Tobacco Burst that had an extremely rough existence before I got it... it was achingly heavy..original uncovered Burstbuckers...played ok...sounded ok...but never felt a part of me.
I've also owned a very rare late sixties prototype model SG...it had no serial but DID have the dated swingtags in the case.
It was a dark walnut with a Bigsby,black mini humbuckers and dot inlays...and aside from the fact that it was a rare Gibson...it played like ^&*(....would NOT stay in tune and the feedback was uncontrollable.
So of the Gibsons that I have owned...NOTHING comes close to the quality or playability of my Tokai.

hehe. I mean i've tried gibsons in shops, obviously that doesn't let me know them as well as having owned them, but it's enough to let me know they're not worth it (at UK prices, anyway).

Gibson & Fender make some great guitars, but the good Japanese ones, Tokai etc are definetely more consistent and far better value. I actually think the name Tokai get's you a lot of respect with other musos, Joe Public might not be impressed, but having Tokai on your headstock is always a talking point with other guitarists.

This weekend we had a GLP Standard with stock pups, a GLP Studio with stock pups, and an LS85 GT.
The Studio sounded terrible compared to either the Standard or 85.
We put a set of MK2 in the Studio, now all three guitars sound identical...and I mean really identical.

So there's no difference in tone, the Tokai manufacturing quality is definitely more consistent, and Tokai have a far more extensive range of models and colours than the GLP range.

Gig with a GLP, after the gig you'll get no comments, gig with a Tokai and you cause a stir, lots of questions and compliments after the gig.